Racism draped in flag

AUSTRALIA has the world's most unpopular national flag. If you
ask citizens of Britain, the United States, Canada, France or any
other Western democracy whether they think their national flag
should be changed, in almost every case fewer than 10 per cent
think so.

The dissatisfaction level rises to 40 per cent in New Zealand,
but Australia tops the world with half the population expressing
"no confidence" in the flag design.

Support for the Australian flag peaked in the early 1960s at
about 70 per cent. Since then, support has declined steadily at an
average of one half of one percentage point each year.

When a monopoly product with more than 100 years of free
advertising and pump-priming by government still does not have
resounding popular support there is only one possible conclusion -
the product is faulty.

The response by supporters of the present design has been to
embark on a campaign of indoctrination. They erect more flagpoles
and insist on more schoolyard saluting.

But the field evidence is that the more some fly the Australian
flag, the less popular it becomes with everyone else. It is
ridiculous to believe that if 100 years of promotion has not been
sufficient then 110 years might do the trick.

We are now at a vexillological crossroad, and with the riots in
Cronulla in December, we also have a dangerous development in how
the Australian flag is used.

Ausflag has always been aware that the Union Jack in the corner
could be used as a cultural and racial wedge, a means by which
white, Anglo Australians could remind everyone else that "you are
not, and will never be, considered truly Australian".

Regrettably, the Cronulla riots saw this come to pass. Never
before has this country seen the national flag used so aggressively
to put non-Anglos back in their place. But the signs have been
there for a long time. Most white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups
in Australia bind themselves root-and-branch to the Union Jack on
our flag.

When One Nation burst onto the scene, Pauline Hanson was
photographed draped in the flag, the Union Jack proudly on her
shoulder. And now we have Cronulla. The national flag as racial
wedge and cultural sledgehammer has gone mainstream.

Those who profess to love the flag need to reflect deeply on
what has happened. Are they troubled that the flag is being used
for overtly racist and divisive purposes? Do they care that more
and more Australians find this alienating and offensive?

To those who think this is nonsense, reflect upon this: if the
Australian flag did not contain the Union Jack and instead
celebrated our multicultural reality, how many neo-Nazis, white
supremacists and Anglo racists would wave the national flag with
aggressive and exclusionary intent? Answer: none.

Some argue that removing the Union Jack would somehow betray
"our" heritage, but you never hear Aboriginal or non-Anglo
Australians use that argument, for obvious reasons. The Union Jack
is not heritage to everyone.

And to suggest that "heritage" can only be satisfactorily
symbolised by stealing the flag of another country and bunging it
in the corner demonstrates a serious lack of imagination. Almost no
other country in the world, apart from New Zealand, thinks it
necessary to do this.

East Timor, for example, did not include the flag of Indonesia
in the corner of its new flag when it became independent in
2002.

And when Canada removed the Union Jack from its flag in 1965,
Canadians fell in love with their new maple leaf flag. Arguments
that the new flag somehow offended those who served under the old
ensign quickly faded. It is now proudly draped on the coffins of
ex-servicemen, and the Canadian Monarchist League displays it on
its website.

The way forward is simple. Ausflag has a detailed plan for how
Australia can democratically choose a new flag, culminating in a
national vote for the top one or two designs against the
incumbent.

Remaining on the present path is not an option. The existing
flag will continue to decline in popularity and eventually be
overthrown in disgrace and dishonour when its approval rating falls
into the teens.

Or we can retire this flag gracefully and democratically, and
finally give Australia a flag which represents inclusion and
tolerance - and is never waved at a racist rally again.